Reintroduction as an Antelope Conservation Solution

The quantity and quality of reintroductions of plants and animals have increased greatly over the last 30 years. This chapter reviews the extent to which reintroduction has been used in antelope conservation and the success of these initiatives. Antelopes provide a well-suited opportunity to understand the factors affecting the use and success of reintroduction as a conservation measure because the group exhibits great variation in form, behaviour, and ecology; and, in common with other large mammals, they face many challenges to their persistence in the wild. The reintroduced antelopes comprise three Gazella species, the dama gazelle (Nanger dama), the addax (Addax nasomaculatus), and two oryx species, the Arabian and the scimitar-horned oryx (Oryx dammah). Few countries in Africa and west Asia have reintroduction efforts. But four countries (Morocco, Tunisia, Senegal, Saudi Arabia) are attempting to restore their antelope faunas through multiple species reintroductions.